Last night I had an emergency call to pick up at cat. I met the folks at a Jack in the Box parking lot for the exchange. It was near midnight before the Cat, Minny, and I arrived safely at my place. With the help of my husband we had a very large dog kennel set up for her with small potty box, water and food, and a bed. Our house hold has four cats so we knew this was the best and safest way to acclimate her to the other cats and vise versa.

We have a dedicated indoor cat room, that is a central them to our home. The room also has an attached enclosed outdoor area, (safe from predators), connected by a cat door. We of course can access that outdoor area by a passenger door so we can clean all the cat boxes, bedding and play area.

In the past we have released feral cats directly into the mix as it was our only option. But we don’t recommend it in general. Minny will stay in the large dog crate most likely until tomorrow morning. We will simply open the crate door and allow her to do what is most comfortable for herself. We never release a cat until we know our cats are fine with the new member of our colony.

The following information, provided by PAWS, is excellent for any person who is thinking about adopting a new adult cat or even a kitten.

Helping Your Cat Adjust to a New Home

Adjusting to a new home can be a tense and frightening experience for a cat. Your patience and understanding during his initial adjustment period can do a lot to help your new cat feel at home.

The ride home

Riding in a car can be traumatic for cats. Your cat or kitten should be confined to a carrier during the ride home as well as during subsequent trips to the veterinarian. Do not let your new cat loose in a moving car or allow children to excite him. Do not leave the cat unattended in the car or stop to visit friends, shop, etc. Keep your cat in his carrier until you are safely inside your home.

The new home

Consider your companion’s past experiences. Your kitten may have been recently separated from his mother and litter mates. The kitten or cat has had to cope with the transition of a shelter and the stress of surgery. The adult cat may have been separated from a familiar home and forced to break a bond with human companions or other animals. Now he must adjust again to totally new surroundings.

Allow your cat several weeks to adapt. During this period, the cat or kitten should be carefully confined indoors. He needs to get used to you as the provider of love, shelter and food. Be sure that all windows and doors are kept closed and that all screens are secure. A scared cat can easily get out of a high open window. PAWS strongly advocates keeping cats indoors for their entire lives, but if you choose to eventually let your new cat outside, it is imperative that he stay totally indoors for at least one month, and the new kitten until he is grown.

It’s not uncommon for cats to display behavior problems during the first days in a new home, but these usually disappear over time. New cats and kittens often bolt under furniture. Some may spend hours or even days hiding. Sit and talk quietly to the cat. If you must take the cat out of his hiding place, carry him gently to a quiet protected area where he will feel secure. Be sure food, water and litter box are nearby.

What can you do to train your cat to behave better around the home?

Jackson Galaxy—a cat behaviorist with more than 20 years of experience, and the host of Animal Planet’s hit show My Cat From Hell—explains in his entertaining video The Best and Worst Ways to Train Your Cat:

]]>https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2017/08/15/acclimating-your-new-cat-into-your-home/feed/0sossrescue101 things to do with your dog.https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2017/06/21/101-things-to-do-with-your-dog/
https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2017/06/21/101-things-to-do-with-your-dog/#respondWed, 21 Jun 2017 20:06:11 +0000http://soundsofsilentspirits.org/?p=1493]]>Finding things to do with your dog is important, and finding new things to do can take some extra time. Like kids, dogs become bored easily and can turn to undesirable behavior to relieve that boredom. Doing fun activities together not only strengthens your bond, but also provides physical and mental stimulation that will make your pet happy and less prone to mischief.

My foster Mother thought if she did some silly photos you would checkout this post! It’s a plea for donations to remove a gigantic bladder stone, (see x-ray below). We haven’t asked for donations for over 18 months, but we are sending out a plea to you, our friends, to help us fix this rescued boy’s painful and life threatening problem. Even with our rescue discount we will pay $1200. Our emergency fund is empty. Can you help Kobe-Wan with a donation? All donations are Tax Deductible. Just click on the donate button top right of our page. Or send a check to SOSS PO Box 2198 Lucerne Valley CA 92356-2198. Write KOBE on check or in notes on pay pal, (button under how you can help at top of this page). Kobe-Wan send his licks of thanks to you all for sharing this post. November 18,2016

Greatness alone is not enough, or the cow would outrun the hare. ~Proverb

It is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of our beloved 20+ year old Long Horn Steer, Nestle. He was a good boy and had been with us for a very long time here at Sounds of Silent Spirits. Our hearts are full of grief and the ranch has a profound emptiness today. We know we were blessed to have this gentle soul in our presence for as long as we did, nonetheless we feel deep pain from his passing. ~Sounds of Silent Spirits Staff.

]]>https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2016/08/08/nestle-our-beloved-longhorn-steer/feed/2sossrescue2012-04-20 15.41.00.jpgWhat to do when you find an injured tortoisehttps://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2016/06/17/what-to-do-when-you-find-an-injuried-tortoise/
https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2016/06/17/what-to-do-when-you-find-an-injuried-tortoise/#respondFri, 17 Jun 2016 16:42:52 +0000http://soundsofsilentspirits.org/?p=1394]]>

These guidelines are for you to stabilize the injured tortoise or turtle until you can get to a proper rescue or reptile Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine. These reptiles are hardy and fighters so don’t assume the animal can’t be helped.

If you spot a wandering tortoise in the desert please leave alone, it’s not lost, it lives there. It’s very illegal to harass, or remove a tortoise from it’s habitat. Enjoy but leave it it be.

find a clean cardboard box and place the tortoise/turtle inside.

make the best of assessment of the injury.

If there is an open wound cover with clean damp cloth. Change dressing as needed.

if you live in the high desert of SoCal, you can contact us via, http:/www.soundsofsilentspirits.org or http:/www.Facebook.com/soundsofsilentspirits. All our contact info is on both pages. Also, anywhere in the north America you can call Fish and Game in your state or province. In all of California there is the Tortoise Club http://www.tortoise.org/ otherwise, call local animal shelter in your county to help you find support.

The most important thing is to keep the injured tortoise/turtle in a clean cardboard box, sized accordingly. Place in a quiet, shaded to dark spot in the house until you can get it the help it needs. If it’s a turtle put a wet towel on one side for it’s comfort.

Lastly, you can contact us if you can’t find help no matter what state you are in, and we will do our best to get you in direct contact with appropriate people.

In advance of his Monday appearance on the Steve Harvey show, Manny’s human parents Jon Huang, 35, and Amber Chavez, 30, brought the famous four-legged friend to visit the Chicago headquarters of AOL and Huffington Post.

Story continues below the slideshow.

Manny The Frenchie

Huang and Chavez said during the visit that “Manny the Frenchie” almost never happened.

“He was actually the unwanted one in his litter,” Huang said. “The breeder was like, ‘we’ll give you a discount if you take him.’ He’s the bootleg special dog.”

What’s more, the couple almost named their pet “Derrick,” after Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose. Instead, he was named for Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Though Manny has drawn scores of Chicago followers thanks to his support of the city’s teams, the French bulldog’s fandom spans worldwide. “He has a lot of friends in Brazil,” Chavez said.

The pup’s popularity has only grown since the aspiring model was tapped by major brands like American Apparel, Converse and Martha Stewart’s PetSmart line. According to Huang and Chavez, their dog’s star quality was apparent almost immediately.

“He’s always gotten attention from day one when we got him. Everyone just loved him,” Chavez said. “I don’t think French bulldogs are as popular, they’re more rare, especially in Chicago. He’s just a cute little butterball and everyone was attracted to him.”

Huang says that while Manny “hates vacuum cleaners” and being left alone, he’s as well-behaved as they come, getting along with babies, adults and other dogs. Discipline, the couple says, is rare.

“It lasts about half a second,” Chavez says. “He pretty much gets what he wants, so there’s not much discipline, unfortunately. But he’s not bad.”

Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) are curious and personable outdoor animals that offer a unique alternative to traditional family pets. If you’ve ever thought about adopting one of these cool creatures, here are 6 things you should know about the species before you adopt:

Desert Tortoises are outdoor animals that enjoy helping in the yard, digging, eating, being with humans and their well-trained pets, and even coming inside for short visits, if they’re allowed (just remember, they must live outdoors).

These magnificent animals can live 80-100 years. That’s a long time!

Desert Tortoises must live outside in safe habitats with burrows. Your yard should have an area a minimum of 600 square feet in size with a big dry area for a burrow. The burrow should be in an area away from sprinklers, drainage areas, sidewalk runoffs and block walls.

Don’t see your Desert Tortoise? These guys spend 95% of their time inside a burrow, cooling off during the summer and keeping warm in the winter.

Desert Tortoises are vegetarians and should only eat nutrient-dense diet and plants (seehttp://www.tortoise.org/general/edibplan.html for a list of edible, Tortoise-friendly plants). No pesticides should be used in the Tortoise habitat.

Water should be available in the habitat at all times, and the water dish should be kept in the same place so your tortoise knows where to find it.

This Veterinarian’s Love-Hate Relationship With French Bulldogs

Let me offer this at the outset: I loveFrench Bulldogs. I have never met a breed with such fun doggy drive, innate canine exuberance and undeterred affable dogability (if that’s a word). They just rock my world.

I’ve been a proud parent to at least one French Bulldog for more than a dozen continuous years, which is kind of strange, come to think of it. After all, I’m an outdoorsy, athletic type who has always doted on the big dogs who could keep up with me (or, rather, me with them).

My Life With Frenchies: A History

Never one to resort to small dogs in the past, I somehow broke down and adopted 4-year-old Marcel, my first Frenchie — and never looked back. I don’t know how it happened. But romance being romance, it’s all in the chemistry, isn’t it? And Marcel and I had oodles of it from the get-go.

So, too, was I wholly besotted by my Sophie Sue, who came to me as a 3-year-old pup the very weekend of Marcel’s untimely demise. In Sophie’s case, the adoption happened when an owner couldn’t afford her upkeep any longer — much less her emergency C-section.

And then there’s Vincent, my current French Bulldog, whose misbegotten genetics — a cleft palate, among other abnormalities — occasioned the need for either a veterinarian owner with a fierce love for canine dermatology and strong ties to the veterinary surgical community or a very wealthy and highly dedicated pet parent.

Although all three have been unique in their personalities, each one has displayed a very characteristic “Frenchiness” that seems to pervade all but a few French Bulldogs I’ve met (and I’ve met hundreds by now). Playfully cuddly, solicitously soulful, quirkily clownish and delectably goofy … how could anyone resist?

A Frenchie’s charms have a way of overwhelming anyone’s small-dog defenses — or any defenses, for that matter!

Not only are they interesting to behold — with their smushy faces, dwarfed limbs, deep skin folds, outsized heads and big doe eyes — but their personalities and energy levels are ideally suited to just about anyone. I can understand if you think French Bulldogs are ugly animals, but no one can deny that they’re the almost perfect companion dogs if you like intermittently active indoor dogs who won’t knock over your children and who will cuddle up almost on command.

Obviously, I’m smitten.

This Cute Canine Comes With Some Caveats

Not that I haven’t had other breeds of dog (and currently do) — all of which were adopted as young adults after various and sundry healthcare crises drove them into my arms — but Frenchies have remained a constant for most of my veterinary career.

In fact, the vet thing is undeniably how I managed to become a Frenchie person, because what precipitated each adoption was the former owners’ prospect of lots of assiduous home care, coupled with huge impending veterinary bills.

Keeping a Frenchie is not for the seriously time-pressured or the financially faint of heart. A certain willingness to get your hands dirty is also recommended, since daily ear and skin fold ablutions, frequent bathing, routine eye care and sometimes even physical therapy are often required of French Bulldog caretakers.

Here’s a quick rundown of the problems these dogs most commonly face:

Skin and ear issues: Skin and ear diseases are commonly inherited in the breed, with demodectic mange and allergic skin disease overrepresented. This means lots of home care, frequent trips to the veterinarian and impressive expense if allergy testing, food trials, allergy vaccines and chronic medication must be employed. Marcel, Sophie Sue and Vincent all suffered from serious allergic skin disease.

Respiratory compromise: Respiratory issues, of course, are also ridiculously prevalent among the Frenchie set. Given that all French Bulldogs are, by design, short-headed, their respiratory tracts are ill-equipped for the free flow of air into and out of the lungs — a disease we refer to as brachycephalic syndrome.

Heat and exercise intolerance: Respiratory compromise may occasion poor heat and exercise tolerance, which can lead to life-threatening heatstroke if owners are not mindful of this limitation. In fact, I’ve seen more than one Frenchie die in excessive temperatures — and one instance happened in only moderately warm weather, when the AC in the house went out during a springtime electrical storm.

Spinal diseases: Disk disease — also referred to as intervertebral disk (or disc) disease — seems to be increasingly prevalent among French Bulldogs. And this disease is undeniably the most acutely expensive condition among these dogs should surgical intervention be required — about $3,000 to $6,000 per episode. Sophie Sue had one, and Vincent has had three — two for disks and another spinal surgery for a congenital subarachnoid cyst.

Behavior problems: Although you’d think that they’d be somewhat immune to behavioral issues given their notoriously winning personalities, certain behavioral troubles can be common among Frenchies, who have a hardheaded streak. This trait can make some of them notoriously difficult to housebreak — forever. But I’ve put up with it because they’re worth it.

No breed is perfect. This I know. And I hope you don’t think that I’m in any way damning or dissing my breed of choice. It’s nonetheless true that French Bulldogs are especially needy and potentially very expensive.

Why do I belabor this point? Because French Bulldogs are becoming increasingly popular. Ten years ago, I counted only one or two among my patients. I now service more than 20. How’s that for a jump?

]]>https://soundsofsilentspirits.org/2016/03/25/love-hate-relationship-with-a-frenchie/feed/0sossrescueDr. Patty Khuly with her French Bulldog, Vincent.